March 19, 2024

Survey shows concerns about raising children in Newton

Raising children in Newton is still a concern for citizens, the 2016 Community Attitude Survey found.

The survey gathered data from more than 600 residents in the areas of providing a safe community, encourage economic development, foster a high quality of life and have an effective, efficient, democratic governance.

Foster a high quality of life

The city’s purpose is to continue to build upon the high quality of life in Newton by focusing on growing community livability, cultural and historical resources, recreational amenities and community aesthetics in order to benefit existing households and draw young families to choose Newton as their home.

“Of the four purposes we are looking at, this is probably the category where we rated the poorest between the two years of the surveys,” Umsted said. “But it helps identify some of the areas we are needing to continue working on or work harder on.”

The area the city found most concerning was the declining rating people gave Newton as a place to raise children. In 2014, 9 percent of those surveyed labeled Newton as a poor place to raise child.

That number grew to 16 percent in 2016.

“I started going through all of the results and I find myself arguing with myself. There is a lot of work going on in Newton but you see the quality of life and the children thing is a concern,” councilwoman Lin Chapé said.

The city also lost ground in the areas of Newton as a place to live, education and enrichment, sense of community and overall image or reputation. It did show improvement in the area of health and wellness opportunities and overall quality of life.

Have effective, efficient, democratic governance

The city’s purpose is to protect and prudently manage city resources, to enhance transparency, accountability, integrity, efficiency, effectiveness and innovation in all operations, to provide responsive customer service, to support data-based decision making with timely short-term and long-range analysis and to attract, motivate and develop a high-quality workforce dedicated to collaborative decision making.

“We rated very positively in 2016 compared to 2014 in this area. We did see positive growth in every category that we identified as areas that we wanted to improve,” Umsted said. “Throughout the survey date, our city services rated quite highly, especially compared to 2014.”

The city saw substantial positive improvement in the areas of overall customer service, value of services for taxes paid, overall confidence in Newton government, being honest and treating all residents fairly.

To follow-up on the data received from the survey, they city is planning a comprehensive plan chapter review by city staff and the Implementing Newton’s Future group. The week of July 18, the city will provide several opportunities for the public to give input on ideas for the updated plan.

In August, the Planning and Zoning Commission will review the work completed and give recommendations to present to the city council. Finally, in September, the city council will review and potentially adopt the updates plans.

“Over the course of the next year, we are going to be updating our comprehensive plan, as well as our two-year action plan,” Umsted said. “We’re building upon the results to make sure we are continuing to address the needs and concerns of our residents.”

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com